Search Results for: multiverse

Memories of a Theoretical Physicist

Posted on June 1, 2022 by woit

Joe Polchinski’s autobiographical Memories of a Theoretical Physicist has just been published, in an open-access version that is freely available. Much of the volume is what appeared here on the arXiv back in 2017, but this has been supplemented with … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 20 Comments

Two Titans

Posted on May 10, 2022 by woit

If one tried to pick a single most talented and influential figure of the past 100 years in each of the fields of pure mathematics and of theoretical physics, I’d argue that you should pick Alexander Grothendieck in pure math … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 51 Comments

This Way to the Universe

Posted on February 10, 2022 by woit

There’s a new popular book out this week by string theorist Michael Dine, This Way to the Universe, as well a a new Sean Carroll podcast interviewing him about the book and the state of particle theory research. According to … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Multiverse Mania | 9 Comments

Witten Goes Anthropic

Posted on December 22, 2021 by woit

Multiverse mania started seriously among string theorists around 2003, with a defining event Susskind’s February 2003 The Anthropic Landscape of String Theory. At the time I was finishing up writing what became the book “Not Even Wrong”, and my reaction … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 41 Comments

More Math and Physics Items

Posted on December 18, 2021 by woit

Yet more math items: First of all, congratulations to my colleague Johan de Jong, recipient of the 2022 AMS Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition. Johan’s Stacks Project is very much deserving of such recognition. It’s both huge in scale and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments

Various Math and Physics News

Posted on October 4, 2021 by woit

First some items on the mathematics side: The latest AMS Notices has some memorial pieces about Vaughan Jones and Robert Hermann. I contributed a piece to the Hermann memorial, for more about him, see here. If you read French you … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments

Steven Weinberg 1933-2021

Posted on July 24, 2021 by woit

I heard this morning the news that Steven Weinberg passed away yesterday at the age of 88.  He was arguably the dominant figure in theoretical particle physics during its period of great success from the late sixties to the early … Continue reading →

Posted in Obituaries | 18 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on January 25, 2021 by woit

I had just been thinking the other day about how little one hears recently about the multiverse, with those previously involved in heavy promotion of the idea perhaps having thought better of it. Today however, Quanta has Physicists Study How … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 22 Comments

20 Years Later

Posted on December 29, 2020 by woit

Almost exactly twenty years ago I started writing a short article about the problems with string theory. I had been thinking about doing this for quite a while, and the timing of entering the twenty-first century seemed appropriate for evaluating … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 60 Comments

Funding Priorities

Posted on August 26, 2020 by woit

The research that gets done in any field of science is heavily influenced by the priorities set by those who fund the research. For science in the US in general, and the field of theoretical physics in particular, recent years … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 36 Comments